The Day that Duke Died

I absolutely loved my Duke Deer for one week and 3 days (5 days of which I spent at the hospital with Lucky). On Saturday night, a loud boom resulted in this:

How sad and scary is this? 

The bracket holding the deer to the wall broke off the deer and remained on the screw we placed in the wall.  I think this guy was a truly defective deer destined for a life of dump-dom.  Sorry, Duke.  He is now in a million tiny pieces that I will not be adhering together.  His antlers did fall down in 3 pieces (1 of them is entirely intact), so I'll be hanging on to those.

I was in the room when he fell, and after my heart rate dropped back to normal...I realized that I wasn't that upset.  A little bummed, but not devastated.  Maybe it's because I have a spare deer to work with, or maybe Duke falling was the crappy exclamation point on an otherwise crappy week.  Or more likely, maybe I didn't get too upset because it's just a silly fake deer (that I loved like a real deer:), but a deer nonetheless).  After going through something so traumatic, your perspective really does change.  So maybe Duke the Second won't be a Duchess (and bright pink) after all.  Ah well.  Duke the Second has a nice ring to it, right?:)

Duke is Finally on Display!

Remember this post from July, when I wrote about my eight pointer:

My Duke arrived shortly after that post, but he arrived damaged, with several cracks around one ear and a crack along its neck and side .  There were chips of resin missing from the deer.  I was sad.  I contacted the seller about the damaged deer, and I was shipped a brand new Duke in short order.  The new Duke arrived in perfect condition.  Oh Happy Day!  

The seller told me that he didn't need/want my damaged Duke back, so I decided to try to fix him. 

Here was the crack on his neck:

See the big hole?

There was another hole on the side of his head, and then this huge crack by his ear: 

I used an epoxy adhesive to fill the cracks and holes:

He's healed!

And then I grabbed a can of Krylon Dual spray paint in glossy white:

And here's the finished product:

If you look closely, you can see where the adhesive was placed, but I still think he's definitely worth keeping!!

And here are a couple pictures from further out in the room:

He's hanging above the tv and dresser in our master bedroom.  (Kiki, your second guess was right...you get to give Duke a middle name!)  I think he's amazing!!  And since I have 2 usable deer now, his cost dropped in half to $20 plus $4 in spray paint = $24 total.  So much cheaper than the other options I posted about here!  

I should also note that this project was 100% inspired by this image created by the very talented Bower Family:

Nursery Deer

Bower Power

Now, since I have a second deer, I need to decide where it will be hung.  I'm thinking of making the other one bright pink and naming her Duchess.  She could go in Lucky's room or the basement...or on my single precisely placed nail in the sun porch:).  The options are endless:)! 

Have a good weekend, and if you're local you might want to check out the Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, MN this weekend.  I went yesterday and will write a post about my experience next week.  Also, Target marked down a good chunk of home bedding, bath and rug merchandise yesterday to 75% off.  I picked up a few things (including the new comforter set we talked about for you Mom...$25 for a king sized set!) that I'll post about next week.  I missed out on this rug:

5' x 7' on clearance for $50!!

I actually saw a woman pick up the last one and put it in her cart.  I had been stalking this rug for weeks and was just a few minutes late.  B U M M E R!  Win some.  Lose some.

Have a lovely fall weekend!

Linking up to Home Stories A to Z.

Check Out My Eight Pointer, Dad!

His name is Duke, and I didn't find him in the woods.  I found him on Ebay.  Oh, and if you couldn't tell, he's plastic, and I'm ecstatic.  After researching many fake deer head options in this post, he was the most economical, and I think he even has a smile on his face. 

I've got just the place in mind for him at our home.  Actually, I can think of about 10 different places I could put him, but I know where he's going to start his new life in our sunshine home.  Feel free to guess where that might be.  If you are the first to guess right, you can have middle naming privileges. 

Have a wonderful weekend!